Wii U and Unity join forces to encourage developers

Wii U developers will receive a free copy of Unity, thanks to a deal between the engine tech company and Nintendo.

Gamasutra reports Nintendo has been granted the rights to distribute a Wii U-specific version of Unity in its development kits.

The move is expected to encourage indie devs to invest in the new console, as Unity is rapidly becoming ubiquitous, whereas many engines used for console development are beyond the reach of smaller devs – and therefore represent a significant learning barrier once a dev kit is secured.

Unity CEO David Helgason said the agreement will take away the “boring and hard stuff”, allowing developers to leap right into making Wii U games.

“We should allow the developers to focus on the stuff that’s interesting, which is the controls, the gameplay, the graphics, and how it all looks and feels,” he said.

The Wii U version of Unity will have all the same tools as other versions, but is fostered in an environment of collaboration between Nintendo and Unity – unlike other versions.

“That’s just us taking the dev kits, making them work, and selling them to developers, with a sort of minimum amount of support from the console owners,” he said.

“What’s different here is the level of connection from both companies. Not sort of just sharing technology, but also engaging both ecosystems and making sure we’re getting the efficiencies of Unity and the efficiencies of cooperation with Nintendo and the Wii U.”